Nursing bottle



M. SLOANE NURSING BOTTLE Feb. l2, 1946.

Filed Sept. 2l, 1943 INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY f Patented Feb. l2, 1946 Application September 21, 1943, Serial No. 503,177

2 Claims.

My invention relates to a new and improved nursing bottle.

which is provided at the bottom of the bottle,

at the top or inner face of the bottom cap;

Fig. 3 is a vertical elevation, partially in vertical section, of a second embodiment;

Fig. 4 is anlelevation of the bottom part of the bottle of Fig. 3, with the bottom cap detached from the bottom `of the bottle;

Fig. 5 is a section of the bottom cap; and

Fig. 6 is a sectional view of another embodiment.

The bottle I may be of any type or shape. In Fig. 1, the longitudinal wall of said bottle is externally threaded at its rear or open bottom end 8a. Cap 2 is made of rubber or any other resilient or non-resilient material. It is preferably made of material which is resilient and flexible and extensible. Cap 2 is screwed on bottom end 8a, to provide a liquid-tight and air-tight closure. Valve 4 is made of rubber or other resilient and flexible and extensible material. The bottom wall 5b of valve 4 is fixed to the adjacent annular wall of cap 2, in any suitable airtight and liquid-tight manner, by cement or otherwise. Valve 4 may be vulcanized integrally with cap 2. Valve 4 and cap 2 have the common bore 3. A slitting tool is forced upwardly through bore 3 to slit an opening 4I which is normally closed by the resilient lips 5 and 5a, which normally press against each other, to provide a valve-lip construction which normally closes slit opening 4I.

As shown in Fig. l, said lips 5 and 5a are provided at the tip of the hollow valve-body. Said lips 5 and 5a are thinner than the wall of said hollow valve-body. By thus transversely cutting the valve-body at its tip to provide said lips 5 and 5a, I produce a valve which delicately responds to a slight lowering in the internal pressure of the bottle-body. The body of the cap 2 is planar, so that the entire body of said cap can yield between the internal face of the longitudinal wall of the bottle.

A nipple is put on neck 2 of bottle I, and said bottle is used in the ordinary manner. When in use, the bottle may be held horizontally or in an inclined position, so that slit 4| is spaced from the milk or other liquid in said bottle. When a partial lvacuum is created in the interior of the bottle I, the valve-lips 5 and 5a separate slightly but suiciently, s0 that air can enter the interior of the bottle through slit opening 4I. Said valvelips 5 and 5a form a one-way inlet valve device. Hence, no milk or other liquid can leak out through valve opening 4I. Itis desirable to form the opening 4I by a slitting operation, after the valve-body has been formed and otherwise completed, so that the natural resilience of the lips 5 and 5a will normally close the inlet opening 4I.

In the second embodiment of Figs. 3-5, the bottle la has a bottom or rear portion 8 Whose longitudinal wall has no external thread. 'I'he rear end of said rear portion 8 has a flange, Cap 2a fits frictionally upon the rear end of bottle Ia, to provide an air-tight and liquid-tight closure. The cap 2a has an integral wall 40, which is slitted, after said cap 2a has been finished, to provide slit opening 4I. Cap 2a can also be made oi resilient and flexible and extensible vulcanized rubber.

Fig. 6 shows a valve body 4a, which has a hollow extension 6, which can t frictionally in the bore 3 of cap 2. The valve 4a which is shown in Fig. 6, can also be made of resilient and flexible and extensible rubber, as in the previous embodiments, and the slit 4I is also preferably formed after said valve 4a has been shaped and vulcanized and otherwise fully completed.

For large scale production, it is desirable to provide a bottle which has no rear end-Wall, so that said bottle is wholly open at its rear end.

The cap 2 or 2a can be readily removed and replaced, thus facilitating the cleansing and sterilization of the bottle.

In each embodiment, the removable cap has a forward projection, at whose front or upper end the valve is located.

Numerous changes and omissions can be made from the embodiments specifically illustrated herein, without departing from the scope of the invention. The invention is not necessarily limited to a slit-opening, although this is preferred.

I claim:

l. In combination with a nursing bottle which has a bottle-body which has a. longitudinal Wall,

' said bottle-body being open at its front end and also at its rear end, the front end-portion of said longitudinal wall being shaped to hold a nipple, a rear closure cap which has a cap-body which closes the rear opening at the rear end of said bottle-body, said cap-body havinga flange which detachably engages said longitudinal wall at the outer face of the rear end-portion of said longitudinal wall, said cap-body having a forwardly extending hollow valve which is located whollyilbetween the front end and the rear end of sai longitudinal wall, said cap-body and said valve being resilient and flexible and extensible, said valve being transversely cut to provide valvelips at its tip, said valve-lips being normally biased by the resilience of said valve to abut each other and normally to seal the interior space of said bottle-body at its rear end, said valve lips being yleldlngly separable from each other to admit air between said lips into said bottle-body when the internal pressure in said bottle-body is less than external atmospheric pressure, said cap-body being wholly spaced from the interior of said longitudinal wall.

2. In combination, a nursing bottle which has a bottle-body which consists wholly of a longitudinal wall, said bottle body being open at its front end and at its rear end, the iront endportion of said longitudinal wall being shaped to hold a nipple, a rear closure c ap for said bottle.. body, -said rear closure cap having a cap-body which constitutes the entire closure for the rear end of said bottle-body, said cap-body having a flange which detachably engages the outer face oi the rear end-portion of said longitudinal wall, said cap-body having a forwardly extending hollow valve, the portion of said capbody which is located between said flange and said hollow valve being planar, said valve being located wholly between the rear end and the front end of said longitudinal wall, said valve and said cap-body being resilient and extensible and flexible, said valve being transversely cut at its tip to provide valve-lips, said valve-lips being thinner than the body of said valve, said valve-lips being biased by the resilience of said valve normally to abut each other and normally to seal the interior space of said bottle-body at its rear end, said valve-lips being yieldingly separable from each other to admit air between said lips into said bottle-body when the internal pressure in said bottle-body is less than the external atmospheric pressure. lVDILTON SLOANE. 

